Medicine 2020

[EightToSixer]

Ok, so I know it's super early, but I've been hovering at the medicine 18 and 19 threads. DD is keen to apply for medicine in 2020. Is anyone else in the same boat?
I thought it would be useful to share info and stories, it's all a very steep learning curve because despite me now having a PhD and working in a RG university I was late to learning and not a patch on my DD who is very driven and organised.
Hopefully people will find this group and we can share the rollercoaster of the next two years.

DC sent their UCAS application of on Monday! People are already getting offers - obviously not for medicine but for other courses e.g. math at Bristol or biomed at Newcastle.

So which ones have your DCs chosen?

DS has chosen Cambridge (Christ's), St Andrew's, Edinburgh, Sheffield. Will be sending on Monday week when we have done our little Scottish trip next week just in case anything changes.

Aberdeen, Glasgow, Dundee & Edinburgh here, in that order I think. Enjoy your trip Monkey.

Hello, I have been finding this thread really helpful. My daughter is currently in Y12 and will be applying for medicine next year. She is currently busy booking lots of relevant work experience week ready for her personal statement/interviews etc.
She ultimately wants to be a surgeon and very much wants a more practical ha dd on course rather than lecture based. Please could you recommend the university's that she should look at for this. We are midlands based and she ideally doesn't want to be more than 3 hours away. Thanks

@redtulip12 - If you can afford the travel time & costs, it would be worth taking her to open days at Leicester, Nottingham and Keele, at least. I don't think Birmingham or Aston are big on hands-on anatomy, placing greater reliance on use of technology. The technology is very good, but it might not be what your daughter considers hands-on. The balance between large-group (lectures) and small-group (seminars, PBL) learning varies quite a bit among Leicester, Nottingham and Keele, so this is something alse she'd have to look into. I'm not sure about the relative emphasis on early clinical experience, as I think they've all changed their programmes a little recently.

...else, not alse. Sorry.

Can speak for Notts. They do full body dissection and have GP and hospital placements from the 1st year.

Also Sheffield- dissection and lots of clinical experience in year 1 - GP and hospital

Does anyone know much about 5th choices on the UCAS form? My DD wants to put Maths at Birmingham but her school have told her she should put something more medical (eg biomed science) because the maths department won’t want someone not 100% committed to maths.

Is this true? I had gathered that unis wouldn’t hold it against you if you had medicine as your other 4 choices?!

Thank you @SirTobyBelch @mumsneedwine @Movingmountains I will get my daughter to look up these suggestions.

The Uni currently very popular for medicine in her sixth form with this years Y13's and also last years Y13's is Exeter. Not sure of the reason for this.

@redtulip12 I live near Exeter - it is fine if she doesn’t mind a very small city and travelling large distances for clinical placements. My nephew has just started there and accommodation is very expensive. I think they select by ranking on A level predictions - though my info might be out of date!

Certainly a couple of years ago Exeter was only interviewing applicants with predicted A-level grades of three A-stars (it's not possible to use asterisks to indicate stars on MumsNet). I'm not sure whether this has changed at all in the meantime. Predicted grades are completely fictitious, so whether it's worth applying will depend on how willing her school is to make up the right predictions. She wouldn't actually have to get three A-stars to get in.

In reply to @Movingmountains, medical students are likely to have to travel long distances to clinical placements wherever they study.

That’s true @sirtobybelch but it’s worse than some areas here due to rurality if Devon /Somerset and poor public transport links

Interesting, so do medical students really need a car? Another expense I wasn't planning for!

I did medicine on Edinburgh; MyBlackCat furthest placement was in Dumfries, about 90 minutes away by car. I had a number of others about an hour away. We did not all have cars, sometimes one of you in the group did & gave us all a lift, sometimes it was public transport & walking.

Friend's DD at Exeter is doing her 4th year in Truro and decided she needed a car. First 3 years in Exeter were fine and she loves it there.

When we were at the Exeter open day this summer, they said that medics have to spend 2 years in Truro. Either 2nd and 3rd year or 4th and 5th year. This is a change from previous years.

This thread feels a lot quieter than last year. We are on train going to St Andrews for open day tomorrow and Edinburgh on Saturday. Little scottish break. It is quite luxurious being post-qualification and not having to worry about missing school.

Enjoy your trip, hope the weather is kind!

Monkey2001 The cohort numbers have been sliding down and 2020's A-level group is at the bottom of the trough before numbers start rising again. I wonder if the quiet thread is a reflection on that? I know some unis are already padding out their 2020 Medicine intake by handing out deferred offers to the 2019 A-level holders (SGUL, Leicester, for example). Don't think I've seen that before.

Will be interesting to see what the stats are for this application cycle. Hopefully, it works in our favour!

Thought I'd just say "Hi". Particularly to resident expert @Monkey2001
Have followed the threads for a couple of years, so time to step up and say hello

Hello @GANFYD sorry to see your insomnia is not being helped by your holiday, but great to see you over here!

Hi GANFYD, your information and help on The Student Room has been amazing! You seem to know everything about medical school application and where best to apply. Thanks!